Frankenbuild! Turn Old Into New
LENGTH OF TIME: 2-3 HOURS
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM
THE CONCEPT
AFTER A SUCCESSFUL first month at the helm of Maximum PC, I was alerted to the ‘situation’ in our stock room, where graphics cards, RAM, and keyboards (so many keyboards!) were pouring out of the door. As I got to cataloging everything and trying to match motherboards with their boxes, the idea struck me—why not try to turn some of these unused and unloved parts into my first build?
The result is this marvelous Frankenstein of a computer, a triumph for gaming and productivity built from parts otherwise going to waste. That meant that the difficulty and length of the build went up slightly, as we had to search high and low for the right cables, while some parts were too big for the case and other parts didn’t work at all. There’s also more RGB than we’d expect to find in the average attic, but the challenge was to use what was to hand, and we had an abundance of lighting.
This wasn’t an exercise in showing off how much cool stuff we get to play with on Maximum PC (although that certainly is fun), but rather a chance to make something functional out of dormant old parts. You too might have components lying around that you could repurpose, either for free or with a little outlay on missing items. In just a couple of hours, you could make a media center PC for the living room, a gaming PC for a friend or relative, or an office computer to donate to a local charity. We’d love to hear your stories on repurposed gear, so if you’ve built something similar, let us know and we’ll feature the best in an upcoming issue.
